COTTER — A revision to the Policy and Procedures Manual of the Cotter Police Department failed to be approved by the City Council following its third and final reading Thursday night.

The proposed revision would have removed the requirement that a K-9 officer have at least two years of full-time law enforcement experience before being hired.

Over the past four months, city officials have discussed the possibility of hiring a K-9 officer for the city’s police force. The City of Cotter presently employs an officer that is K-9 certified and privately owns a dog that is trained to sniff out narcotics. That employee, who previously served in the military, has about one year’s worth of experience as a police officer.

Council members Wayne Alexander and Carolyn Gill voted for striking the experience requirement from the Police Department’s Policy and Procedures Manual, while council members Nathan Buck and Vikki Francis voted against doing so. Council member Roland Morris was absent Thursday night, and council member John Bell abstained.

“I declined on voting because there’s some stuff in my box that I want to go over before we go further on this. I can’t discuss it in open council,” Bell told Mayor Peggy Hammock after a roll call vote on the proposal. “I’m a yes and a no vote both right now.”

The proposed revision then failed due to a lack of a majority.

In the citizens’ comments portion of the meeting, a resident asked council members what their thinking was in voting against revising the police department’s policy and procedures manual to remove the requirement K-9 officers have at least two years of experience.

“I don’t like changing rules and regulations to benefit one individual, and I feel like that is what we are doing. I don’t like that,” said Buck, who was the only council member to respond to the question. “I feel like we’re setting a precedent for future endeavors.”

Had the proposal to drop the experience requirement passed, the city planned to sign a lease agreement with the police officer to use his dog as the city’s K-9. Purchasing a trained dog outright would have cost the city upwards of $20,000.